news Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has demanded answers from the Federal Government as to whether it knows whether the controversial TrapWire surveillance system had been deployed in Australia to keep tabs on locals through the use of public surveillance cameras.
TrapWire is a platform which uses public cameras in retail stores, entertainment venues and other public spaces, alongside other surveillance tools to monitor populations and events. Its existence was outed by Wikileaks recently as part of emails nabbed from private security company Stratfor.
Yesterday, Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam submitted a motion for a vote in the Senate today, asking the Government to reveal whether system, which was reportedly set up by a company run by ex-CIA agents, was being used in Australia. “TrapWire is operating in parts of the UK, Canada and the USA,” said Ludlam in a statement. Its features are reputed to include the ability to centralise and aggregate data from public survey”llance cameras and share information across networks. Is it being used in Australia?”
Ludlam said he would will move a motion calling on the Government to reveal all it knows about the operation of the surveillance system. “We call on the Government to confirm whether the TrapWire system is deployed anywhere in Australia; if Australian agencies have used information provided by foreign agencies using TrapWire; and if the Government has held discussions about acquiring TrapWire for use here,” he said.
The Pirate Party of Australia is also concerned about the issue. “These systems claim to detect ‘pre-crime’ activities and tag individuals as suspects automatically. Such systems, when deployed in the public space, are an encroachment on the privacy of the users of public spaces,” said David W. Campbell, President of Pirate Party Australia. “They have the effect of suppressing the legitimate activities of law abiding individuals, who become justifiably worried about being mislabelled and prosecuted.”
“Although not yet deployed in Australia, the existence of these systems tells a cautionary tale. It strengthens our position that we must remain vigilant when our privacy is gradually eroded by increasing government surveillance powers.”
The news comes as the Federal Government has already been harshly criticised over the past few months on the issue of surveillance and privacy. In May the Government revealed a wide-reaching program to substantially reform its telecommunications interception and surveillance powers with the aim of bolstering the ability of law enforcement organisations to fight crime, including the introduction of a so-called “data retention” scheme that has attracted a great deal of controversy in Australia under the ‘OzLog’ banner.
Digital rights lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia has described the Federal Government’s proposed new surveillance and data retention powers as being akin to those applied in restrictive countries such as China and Iran. The group and others recently fought a successful battle to have a parliamentary inquiry into the powers extend its timeframe for submissions.
opinion/analysis
Is TrapWire active in Australia? I don’t think anyone really knows at this point — with the exception of the program’s creators and some of the more informed spooks within organisations such as ASIO. I would bet there’s a few bureaucrats within the Federal Attorney-General’s Department who would also know, but I don’t think Ludlam will get very far with his Senate order on the matter.
But it’s a safe bet indeed that there is some form of coordinated video camera surveillance system active locally, even if it’s only on a regional basis. Some of these sorts of systems would date back to major events such as the Sydney Olympics in 2000, when the Government placed a great deal of physical and electronic infrastructure in place around major event zones. Other bits and pieces of camera surveillance would, I am sure, have been integrated with various law enforcements exercises over time.
Whether it’s called “TrapWire” or something else, you can bet that whenever you’re in a highly visible public area, some form of electronic surveillance is keeping an eye on you. The interesting part is how many humans or how much contextual intelligence is monitoring that footage ;)
Agree that Ludlam won’t get far with this, but certainly hope that he does.
I hope he doesn’t get too frantic bout it. I suspect this is a non issue in Australia and if he gets too frothy at the mouth about it and it does end up being a big zero then his credibility wanders off in the Bob Katter direction…
+1
We’ve already seen a bit of unwarranted paranoia from Ludlam:
http://delimiter.com.au/2012/01/25/ludlam-suspects-govt-of-bugging-his-iphone/
Yeah it’s nice to have an active IT (sort of savvy) Representative as a .. representative, But he needs to pick his fights.
You cant just take anonymous “leaks” and jump up and down about it without checking your facts and passing a reality filter over it first.
Eventually you’ll cry wolf so often the villagers will ignore you while your flock gets eaten.
feel free to troll more from your ivy tower
LOL.
Ivy (Ivory?) Tower?
Not even close mate.
Just what part of my comment is trolling?
Exhibit A: Marcus
“Yeah it’s nice to have an active IT (sort of savvy) Representative as a .. representative, But he needs to pick his fights.”
The part where you know him so well and what he needs to do. Genius..
“You cant just take anonymous “leaks” and jump up and down about it without checking your facts and passing a reality filter over it first.”
Refer to your first own paragraph.. Genius..
Which part of mass survelliance and invasion of privacy is a non issue for Australia.
You sir are 100% troll.
The part where Australian Gov has its shit together enough to organise this in any usable form.
The Aust Gov is pretty damned immature in its surveillance capability.
You are the Troll, and i wont entertain feeding you any-more.
“The Aust Gov is pretty damned immature in its surveillance capability.”
… you haven’t spoken to the Attorney-General’s Department recently, have you? ;)
haha. no.
Its conceivable though that they might be recording this info and supplying it wholesale to an organisation that _DOES_ have it’s shit together… (American Gov for instance.) But it just doesn’t seem likely yet IMHO
Ipswich Motorway runs facial recognition, vehicle and person tracking, and environmental sniffers (looks for presence of explosives etc as well) on that system already, the system pulls facial references from any preloaded photo, video, and images saved for the new smart licences. I know for a fact its there… However i am unsure who has access to this feed and whether or not its happening on other roads…
This needs more investigation.
FYI the Greens have issued a new media release on this:
15 Aug 2012 | Scott Ludlam
The Greens will pursue answers from the Attorney-General, Defence minister and Home Affairs minister after a Senate motion on the TrapWire surveillance system was voted down by the Government and Opposition today.
“The Government could have done this the easy way. Instead, we will have to submit formal questions on notice to the Federal Police, ASIO, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Defence, and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service,” Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said today.
“US private surveillance system ‘TrapWire’ is operating in parts of the UK, Canada and the USA. Its features are reputed to include the ability to centralise and aggregate data from public and private surveillance cameras and share information across networks.
“All we want to know is whether the system operates here. The questions I submit to each agency will go to whether the TrapWire system is deployed in Australia, or if its use is under consideration.
“I note that the Opposition could have supported this Greens motion, but has instead chosen to remain in cheerful ignorance, costing us at least a month before any answers will be forthcoming.
“On occasions like this when senators vote to keep themselves ignorant of basic facts, it is really important that voters then bang on their doors and ask why they voted as they did.”
Comments are closed.